TOUR de France winner Chris Froome welcomed 24-hour drug testing in cycling yesterday following criticism from Olympian Nicole Cooke and a damning report into drug use.

“If it (24-hour testing) can help clean up the sport that I love let’s do it,” Froome wrote on Twitter.

Earlier Cooke, a former Olympic and world road-race champion who retired from cycling two years ago, had criticised the therapeutic use exemption that had let Froome ride in the Tour de Romandie last year.

She called on cycling’s governing body the UCI to do more to police the “disturbing grey area” of the exemptions.

Cooke said she believed 2013 Tour de France winner Froome should not have been granted one for a powerful steroid to compete at the 2014 Tour de Romandie after complaining of chest pains.

UCI president Brian “Cookson needs to issue a very clear message: he should be apologising to the rest of the riders for failing them,” Cooke said.

“That exemption should not have been approved; Froome and (Team) Sky should have had a clear choice of either riding without steroids or pulling out.

“I never found I could be anywhere near the front of a long race when I was ill.”

The Cycling Independent Reform Commission report showed how the culture and previous practices of the UCI allowed Lance Armstrong to cheat, including the retrospective issuing of an exemption to cover up a positive test at the 1999 Tour de France.

When the granting of Froome’s exemption came to light last June, the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency said procedures had been properly followed.

But Cooke said that Cookson should not leave himself in a situation where he could be accused of favouring a Team Sky rider — the team he helped set up.

Cookson claimed that the rules had subsequently been tightened to ensure all exemptions went through an independent committee.